Tom Trenta is the founder of our Chicago office and has built it from a solo operation to our full team.

Credited by clients as bringing an infectious creative spirit to the work, Tom is driven to help brands find their greatest upside potential. A consummate optimist, Tom is always seeking new ways for his client’s brands to evolve, stretch and grow. He is a consistent innovator of qualitative research methodologies, matched with the artistic eye needed to make quant data spring to life.

Tom has recently been working across our full range of strategic planning with two key clients:

In the beer category, his work has ranged from first-spark ethnographies in-home and in-bars, to brand positioning, new product concept ideation, product development work, benefit testing, branding strategy, naming architecture, portfolio brand segmentation and communications strategies. Seriously, the dude is into beer.

For Calphalon, Tom has been leading the brand on their transformation from a cookware manufacturer to a culinary lifestyle brand. From the identification of a new target, new strategy, new advertising and the development of a new flagship product line, Tom is helping Calphalon reach up into the premium space where their next product can transform into the object-of-desire for cooks everywhere.

As someone inspired by the tension of opposite thinking, Tom was in his glory recently while managing two opposite projects: Sparking new product ideas for a kids’ creativity brand…and…conducting on-the-couch interviews with married couples probing the emotions of investing for their future together and having life insurance for life apart.

Before joining Egg Strategy, Tom spent three years focused on rebuilding a classic American icon: The Red & White Bucket. As a VP Planning Director at Foote Cone & Belding, his strategy work helped lead Kentucky Fried Chicken to their greatest sales year ever in 2005. And Tom’s “Tivo-busting” idea for the 99c Snacker sandwich ranked 2nd in the Wall Street Journal’s “Biggest Ideas of 2006”. (Google: “KFC TiVo Ad” for details).

Previously, at Leo Burnett, Tom worked to drive distinction into the Old Navy and Banana Republic brand and worked with Morgan Stanley to launch their award-winning “One Client at a Time” global ad campaign. Tom started his career in the car-ad business, spending his formative years at J. Walter Thompson on Ford and Leo Burnett on GM. (He was one of the only young guys in Chicago driving an Oldsmobile Alero, but man, he was committed to his client’s brands!)

In his free time, Tom is a passionate American Soccer fan. He still plays and he’s got a wicked right crossing pass.

He can be found tailgating at most Chicago Fire games, and is a referee in his kid’s leagues. If you stop by the Chicago office, you’ll see a cool old wooden box that is supposed to look like art …but really, it’s Tom and Eric’s soccer goal.